while asleep without remembering it the next day have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions such as tongue or throat swelling occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as $15 at lunesta.com there's a land of restful sleep, we can help you go there, on the wings of lunesta. >> this is pearce morgan live. want to welcome our viewers to cnn's team coverage of terror at the boston marathon. millions are stunned by what appears to be a coordinated

terror attack by one of the world east elite athletic events. this is new video of the second explosion showing how deadly it was. the toll of injuries are still rising. at least 144 people are being treated right now. three are dead, one of the victims is an 8-year-old boy. doctors are reportedly pulling ball bearings out of victims. a law enforcement source tells cnn there are a number of active leads but no identified suspects. a man with a black backpack and black sweatshirt reportedly tried to get into a restricted area.

this is the instant that thousands of people went running for the finishing line to >> do we have any idea who may have caused the atrocity? >> this is a very difficult scenario to pick up on. >> we're going to talk to jason

instead. i believe 31 patients are being treated there. what are you expecting to have happen in the next few hours there? >> it is going to be a lot of hard work for the surgeons here. there is just no other way to say it. one came out and said in the very beginning, piers, the ambulances were coming in drones. and basically saying no matter, they drill for things like this but nothing could have prepared them for what they are dealing with inside here. most of the injuries to the lower extremities. there are two people in critical condition fighting for their

lives at this very moment. >> the worst of the injuries have been injury to the legs. a lot of injury to the muscle, the skin, the bones are broken. the shrapnel injuries have been ambient things thrown around in the blast. >> nine of the patients that are here, nine of the 31 are being operated on at this hour. two of those patients, piers, we're being told, are in danger of losing their limb. that gives you another idea of what i'm telling you. the extent of the injuries that these people are dealing with. it's just horrific. one nurse who came outside said

this has been an emotionally traumatizing type of day. the people here at this hospital are trained for this. and it's just going to be a matter of a lot of hard work to save the lives of people who are still struggling to stave alive. >> jason, thank you so much. we will go back to chris live in boston. we lost you there briefly. bring us up to speed on where you feel the investigation may be going. >> right. we do have reason to believe that they are making advances in this. this is a difficult situation. there is so much territory. there are so many aspects for people to pick on. there is a six-block perimeter they are going through carefully. they are learning things from what they call the bomb signature. whoever did this knew the right place and the right time to be here at the marathon. just before four hours and ten minutes.

that's when the thickest bunch are finishing the area. the corner that was picked for this explosion was like the times square of the boston marathon. it's the most densely populated. that takes specific knowledge. they now understand a lot more about the explosives that were used. they were not high explosives that can have a blast rate of 20,000 feet per second, very powerful. waves that can damage and kill. they believe this was black powder. less sophisticated. may have had ordinance in it, ball bearings and maybe things that picked up from surrounding buildings. remember this for context, 7,000 feet per second, a handgun bullet coming out of a 9 mm is going about 1,000 or 1200. very powerful. it will create the kinds of terrible injuries that we saw

today. in terms of specific suspects, people of interest, we're not hearing about any of that yet. there's good reason. the crime seen itself is still in very early stages here and under careful watch because of all the different things that the federal authorities have to look at. backpacks and bags and things that were left. because of what they know about the types of explosives here, those could have been potential. there was reporting about them having suspicious packages, could be devices. most of them looked clear. they used water cannon to do it. they have a lot of manpower on the ground. they're looking at cell tower information to try to piccolo occasion and different communication rates. they're using cctv, closed circuit tv. they're looking at this very carefully but it is a very big task. >> there have been conflicting reports all day about possible

undetonated devices. you touched on this just now. it was reported that maybe up to three bombs had not gone off but that now seems unlikely? >> when they come in they are getting word of mouth. they could look like something that is recognizable from what they saw at the scene, so they treat it like a device that needs to be dismantled. they believe they had as many as six of those today. there may have been a third. the good news is they don't believe at this time they have unexploded ord nants that they are trying to find. they are searching at hotels.

they have locked down the area. so far there is no more bad news. >> it is a very dramatic front page. a. >> you always have pride in your hometown. the stories that we have heard today of people who turned in the face of danger to help others. we have not been showing the photos, but the injuries? the fact that we have not heard about more lives lost is amazing today. people were coming together. there is shock in a situation like this. you have to remember the juxtaposition. this is a beautiful day. the marathon is a center of their actualture, their heart. pariot day. they're here for all the best reasons and the worst things happen. let alone the fact that so many

people involved were undergreat stress running a marathon. a lot of people stay here. people have perspective. they understand that it could have been worse and they're bonding together. when we see these situations and we have had to cover too many. in the face of the worst you see the best in people and i believe that holds true here in boston today. >> people with great spirit in boston and i'm sure they will rise to this extremely traumatic challenge. the victims have had horrific injuries. it seems a miracle that the death toll is only at three people. given the scale of some of these injuries are you surprised that figure is not a bit higher?

>> i am a bit surprised but keep in mind a couple of things. near the end of the race there is often a lot of medical capabilities standing by expecting to treat things from dehydration to maybe heart issues. this is obviously very different. for them they were able to take care of these patients pretty quickly and get them to nine different hospitals quickly. i also think the nurses standing by that probably helped a lot. we don't know the magnitude as far as force. it appears to have been a low sort of force. and that may have played a role here as well. some of the images that chris was talking about, some of the things that he has seen, i think we, in some ways are lucky, pierce. >> in terms of what we are

beginning to find out about the type of device that was used, many saying there was shrapnel-like wounds possibly from ball bearings. would that be consistent with that type of device. >> they were talking about these particular lower extremity injuries. and vascular or blood vels injuries. a primary blast, which is a wave, if you will. after that, the secondary blast is typically made up of shrapnel. often it's debris in the area. sometimes it can be things within the explosion itself whether they be ball bearings or something else.

>> thank you very much indeed. i'm going to go now. paul, really, i guess we don't know who has done this. that is the only fact that we do have it about it. how soon do you think the fbi will have a lot mf information. there was attempted bombing in times square new york. actually an american recruit er so these things can be incredibly fast moving. >> hold it. we have breaking news from brian todd. he's on the ground. police are surrounding a property can you bring us up to speed on what is going on? >> yes, we are at an apartment building on ocean avenue in the

town of revere, massachusetts. a couple of miles northeast. state police are here checking out an apartment. we got to the lobby of the building and spoke off camera with a couple of state police officials who confirmed they were checking out one apartment. we asked for more information and they would not give it but one of their superiors said all the questions have to go to the fbi and they shooed us out of the lobby. a young lady told thaus the authorities had been on site here at least since 5:00 p.m. and she and her family were worried and scared by the presence of the law enforcement officers. whether this is a solid lead we don't know. we do know that state police are checking out an apartment from ocean avenue.

>> i had the police had detected somebody behaving erratically i think in a car. going through several roadblocks. and they had followed this person back. is that anything you have heard? >> there are a lot of neighbors going on. the police would only tell us before they told us to get out of the building that they are checking out one apartment. most people believe.

they will probably claim some kind of credit. is that your belief? >> it really depends on attack to attack. obviously a lot of people looking at all of these forums. >> clearly there has been some planning here. some of the police believe they much have been watching for when they did the sweep and whomever it was put the devices specifically where they put them. that could be, you know, a crazy american. we don't know who this is, do we? could be anybody. >> that's right. it could certainly be a loan wolf or a group of individuals. around a year ago, al qaeda released an article in their

online english magazine calling for attacks on sporting venues and crowded places. that doesn't mean that al qaeda was responsible. >> it's patriots date and tax day and lots of potential reasons -- >> and the anniversary of the bin laden raid. >> that would lend more to a bin laden thing but the others could lend toits a domestic terror attack theory. what will the fbi be really pushing now? >> absolutely. and the forensics will be crucial as well. if they have recovered an intact device, lit be much, much easier. if they do the forensics and

they see it has a signature related to a track record of a group or whatever, they can gain a huge amount of clues on who may have been responsible. >> it's clearly an appalling act of terror by somebody. >> i wouldn't want to weigh in on that. >> cautious approach is probably the right approach. >> the fbi have taken full control of the investigation. if it looks like it may be an islamic fundamentalist group, does the cia come in with them? >> they would if it's a foreign overseas aspect. and then, you know, the full

weight of the u.s. government and their partners would be looking at that. after quite a long period without a major attack this is the worst attack by a terror group or person since 9/11. >> it's still a very, very big if. there have been several dozen plots on the united states. most of them have been home grown plots. that has tailed off a little bit. >> and we will interview a finisher across the finish line just before the first explosion. that your mouth is under attack,

from food particles and bacteria. try fixodent. it helps create a food seal defense for a clean mouth and kills bacteria for fresh breath. ♪ fixodent, and forget it. ♪ before tori was taking her kids to lunch in her new volkswagen... before her passat had passed 30 different inspection tests, and before several thousand tennesseans discovered new jobs on volkswagen drive, their cfo and our banker met for lunch. together, we worked with a team that helped finance construction of the world's first leed platinum auto manufacturing plant. that's the impact of global connections. that's bank of america.

>> this big explosion took place in front of me and then i saw this cloud of smoke and my first instinct was to run across the street and start helping out the people. >> your sleeve there, is that blood? >> on my pants and clothes. >> show me that flag? >> that was a flag i was holding the whole time. >> one of the most dramatic stories of sudden terror. joining me on the phone is former olympic athlete, summer sanders. tell me what happened to you. >> terrifying is -- it's putting it mildly. i finished it. the clock actually reads 3:37.

i went into the medical tent and i remember saying to myself, oh my gosh, they are really set up for a lot of people in here. it was so smooth and they had it all down. by the time i got up into my room, that's when i heard the first blast. it completely freaked us out. and then 20 seconds later we heard a bigger more powerful blast that made me scream. my first instinct was to get down and get out. that's when the police blocked it off. we were on lock down for about 20 minutes.

everybody out, immediately evacuate. >> you watch as a commentator for the atlanta olympics in 1996. did images of what happened today bring flash backs to you? >> absolutely. i remember thinking of janet evans. she was doing an interview. and i forget who it was for. i'll never forget her reaction when that bomb went off. such a beautiful competition. peace and play and sportsmanship and all of that. and this morning, you know, i was walking down the street in front of the buildings and it was a magical day. it was a day i looked forward to.

we're a close knit group. if something like this happens it affects every single one of us. my heart is aching for everyone involved. >> you speak for so many people. thank you so much for joining me. >> she joins me now on the phone. britn britney, you were at the 25.7 marker when the police stopped the race. what was going through your mind? >> i just basically was confused. i thought that everyone -- i initially thought that everyone got lost. it was crazy because it's the boston marathon. you don't ever see any stopping.

it was just massive confusion. >> you had not heard any explosions? >> i had my headphones in? i was listening to them louder. someone had pointed out smoke but we thought maybe there was fireworks or something going on at the finish line. your initial thought when you're running a race is the competition and an event that is supposed to be fun that it would be a bomb going off. >> it was surreal. it was such a large group and we were right in the middle of it.

i had already gotten in touch with them. i didn't realize the severity. >> brit ne, i'm glad you made it through okay. >> and now we will talk to another one. chris? >> reporter: you have two types of people who experience this event. people who were too far away to see what happened. what was going on? you are having your party. what happens? >> we heard the explosions, too, right after each other. and i was in the back of the

office. everybody started running towards the back and away from the windows and noise. at first we didn't know what to do. >> you knew it was not part of the ceremony or fire works? with the first one, the second one? >> this is the sixth year we have done this party and we have never had anything like this before. it's just one of those things that you don't know what it is. >> this is what we have been seeing all day. it is literally the bilding right behind us. did you feel as well as see the explosion? >> we heard it. it was loud. and we heard the other one that was further away. there was not enough of an

impact. >> would you say that smoke was coming out of your building? >> everybody escaped out the back door. i went and tried to shut doors and make sure that everybody was out and okay. there was debris and smoke. >> when you went back up, another detail that really brings home what this was and your proximity to it, what did you find? >> it looked like a gunshot had gone into the window but it didn't go through. hearing later that there were -- >> they believe there were ball bearings within the explosive. you know, this sounds like a silly question. you know there was no thing like that in the window before? >> no. >> and nobody was hurt? >> nobody was hurt, thank goodness. >> when you're in your building and you're hearing the explosions, what else are you

hearing? >> complete chaos. emergency responders and police officers trying to take care of people as best they could. it was gruesome. >> we have been talking about how whoever did this knew the right place and time. what was the density of people on this day outside your building at that point? how thick was it? >> this one block is probably one of the thickest blocks of the entire marathon stretch. people had already lined up. it's tight because they built the barricades. it's -- this is the block. you're going to do it. >> that's something that takes a little saavy. >> you have to know the marathon and know timing. that four hour mark is when you get a bulk of people? >> the elite runners are through, the wheelchairs are

through and all the people who are running for charity that's when they're coming through. >> stories of determination and courage are coming out of fwoth. >> i think you will have massive investigative capables here. you will have multiple federal agencies. the things that we heard yesterday earlier that you were going through about executing a warrant on a particular apartment. you will hear about a lot of that. there is a lot to go through on a situation.

life is going change here in the near term. life gets back to normal. but never the same. it gets back to normal but never the same. people will carry this with them. maybe not in pair noi ya, we hope. but in a little bit of recognition, this marathon will have something attached to it that it has never had before but life will go own. what you hope is that people learn to care about the good moments a little bit more and not just dwell on the bad ones. >> so true. when we come back, former boston police commissioner, what he thinks the investigation could lead.

>> we go straight to chris who is live in boston. bring us up to date, please. >> reporter: well, piers, we know there were two explosions. we know we believe they were coordinated. they were not random. we know they are believed not to be high explosive but low explosive and that provides a window into the nature of sophistication here. easier to do. now, that could cut two ways. one means it's a less fi sophisticated person who did it. but it could also mean that the thickest part of the marathon where they knew they didn't need more than that. we know that the authorities were aware of all of this. we know the authorities believed they understand how they were

detonated. it was very important if it was done by somebody right next to them. that's why we understand that the investigators are taking a close look at cell tower information to figure out if they can get communications from earlier in the day. that's why they're looking at closed caption tv. it is like 9/11 where you have so many people and so many capabilities and nobody taking credit for it. when you move around this area right now there is a six block perimeter. you have 12 hour shifts with local police with national guard. you see different vehicles walking around from the federal authorities. there are abandoned strollers, bags, sneakers. all of them are things that need to be looked at and it's taking a lot of time. they have a lot of manpower on the ground here.

>> few people know the challenges of trying to safeguard a city like boston like my next guest. do your instincts tell you anything about where the investigation may lead? >> not at this stage. i don't think anybody really knows where it may lead other than the capabilities of the agencies involved. it was truly a horrific day and a day of great tragedy and watching the videos. some of the runners. playing understoodedly. very quickly moving to help

those who were injured. having stood down that rout many times, it was very poignant for me and this brought back any memories of many times. it was just very, very tragic to watch it all. >> is this kind of incident the worst nightmare for any big american city? >> certainly. every city has the events and every time you have one, for the potential of a terrorism event like what occurred in boston. but, you always hope for the best but expect the worse.

yesterday in boston, the worse occurred. >> there is a marathon over the weekend in salt lake city and the london marathon. i'm sure they will be casting anxious glances and wonder if they should cancel the events or review all security. what would your advice be to them having been through many incidents? >> they will go forward. it is a security nightmare with all the passions that she brought to the surface during her life. that will go forward. baseball games in america are going to go forward. marathon in salt lake will go forward. that's what we do. can't let the tourists win.

all of us will go on like new orleans. >> do you believe -- i understand that we just don't know who caused all of this? do you believe that the type of operation and the planning it required and the precision of the execution, does it have the hallmarks of an al qaeda operation to you? >> certainly al qaeda likes big events and they like multiple explosions. that has been their hallmark. was this an al qaeda event? quite clearly. spectacular event.

>> two hours earlier, it would have had hundreds of cameras directly looking down on the scene where those bombs went off. but occurring four hours into the marathon, most of the cameras were gone. most of the video that i have been watching is amateur video. it's unprofessional video. by that time, all the professional cameras had left. the crowds had thinned down quite a bit from what they were. >> i think there is a question

for you now. >> good to hear your voice. let me ask you something. we are talking about the staging of this event. two factors that i would like you to put into context. understanding that this corner would be thick with people and this would be the right time to have the thickest group come through and the idea that local cops had done sweeps of this particular area not long before which might suggest that whoever did this was nearby. how do those factor in? >> it's four hours into the race. i have worked that marathon probably 20 times in my career. there is still as you see clearly in the video, large numbers of runners.

by that time, motion of the national media had stopped filming that race because the race for their purposes was over. what you now had was people that 20,000 runners probably about six hours to get the bulk of them in. the timing of it, quite frankly, was a little odd. it might have taken advantage of the fact that security might have lessened somewhat. people in terms of the area.

>> watching those videos from yesterday, it was phenomenal the heroism, people running towards the explosions. many others running towards it. >> pretty amazing. i'm going to leave you now. a great boston man paying tribute to the great acts of heroism that so many showed today amid the tragedy. many amazing stories are coming out of the boston marathon disaster. one of them is this one, a 78-year-old elite runner. watch as the moment is captured. >> the whole world has seen the images of you being blown off of

your feet. tell me exactly what you experienced as you ran towards the finishing line? >> i was approaching the last straight away to the finish line and i had had a good day and i was feeling really good. i got down to within about 15 feet of the finishing apron and this tremendous explosion, shock waves hit my whole body and my legs jittered around. i knew i was going down so i ended up down on the black top. i didn't feel any severe pain but i rolled over i seen a little scratch on my leg so i laid there just momentarily. one of the finisher assistants talked to me and asked if there is anything they needed to do and offered to give me a hand and offered to help me get up and over the finish line so i

could complete my race. we did that and i felt okay. before they had one rounded up, i think i can make it okay. they let me get out of there and i went on home to my wife. >> extraordinary that you would finish the race. i think this was your third boston marathon. when you got back to your hotel and began to realize the scale of the disaster that unfold, what was your reaction? >> well, i guess i mulled it over by then i didn't know what was going on. i wondered if it might be a terrorist plot and that doesn't happen every day. as far as the way i was feeling, it felt pretty good.

>> have you been aware that your pictures are seen around the world? >> i have had a lot of contacts here, yes. since today you mean? >> i want to bring in bill, if i may, the photographer that took the picture of you. they are still images that have gone around the world. his name is john mackie. would you like to talk to bill and tell him what you saw? >> i just -- i feel bad for bill that he couldn't enjoy his marathon finish. think of all the thousands of people who come here. this is -- this is a boston treasurer. i'm just so saddened by what

happened. my images are haunting to me and everybody else. too bad they could not be the regular joyous images. >> bill, it is awfully heartbreaking that such a joyous event, one of boston's great days of the year has turned into such a terrible atrocity today. what are your feelings about the people or the person that perpetrated this act. >> i thought about that myself. you have one or two people trying to destroy the whole thing and it's hard to figure out. terrorists or whatever they are. i don't know. >> will you continue to run marathons after this? >> oh yeah, yeah. i don't stop for this. >> do you think that should be the attitude of everyone in america to what has happened? >> oh, well, i don't know. something like this, i can't

imagine it happening again. >> thank you very much indeed. >> a remarkable man with a markable spirit. what would it take to keep americans safe at events like marathons? i'll ask an expert.

>> in the wake of a terror attack, the boston bruins and celtics game. pacers game was also cancelled. before i come to you i want to ask what was your reaction to bill's assessment of what went on today? >> it was an interesting assessment and one of the big questions of who was responsible. and these devices appear to have

been quite rudimentary. they were not huge bombs. did they get a lot of training? it doesn't seem to be the case. >> dan, sporting fixtures already being cancelled in the wake of this. probably more out of respect than anything else. but going forward this is going to change the way that america puts on big sporting events for quite a while won't it? >> today's events, specifically tonight's games with the celtics and bruins, we have two issues. is it safe to play tonight? is it the right thing to do? and do you have the resources to keep any open course safe? you have is it the right thing to do from a public perception. that's today's issues. and going forward there is a number of topics that have to get addressed.

each league and event owners are going to address it to the best of their ability. do we have the resources financially to protect the events the way we would like to in every instance? and we know we don't. >> when you have this volume of people, i'm thinking ahead to the fall when you have the new york marathon, another huge potential target. it's obviously their worse nightmare come true that kind of incident. >> in a city like new york to put on a marathon there's going to be a lot of planning to take place and probably a lot of technologies. a lot of sharing of information. that intelligence community is going to be hard at work to make sure that any possible

indication that they may have a threat or increased risk, they're going to address accordingly. but these open events like marathons, road races, triathlons. the america's cup coming to san francisco soon. we just had gol inform augusta. very difficult events when they're this wide open. >> if you put all the pieces together of this, it does have the hallmarks of an al qaeda style attack in the sense of clearly premeditated, well planned, well executed. maximum publicity at the big event. you could also argue that it's the hallmark of a loan wolf given the type of devices that are being used. i don't think at this stage of where we are have a real idea either way. >> it could be al qaeda.

it could be al qaeda inspired or it might be nothing to do with islamic terrorism at all. it may be a loan wolf. we saw in norway a year or so ago with a significant terror attack carried out by one person. so many, many questions at this hour appears. whoever is responsible for this seems to be still at large and has the capability to make these bombs. that will be causing a lot of concern. >> it would be very, very keen to catch whoever it is. that's for sure. >> many are questioning the future of the boston marathon. professional running coach has trained more than 3,000 people to run the race. thank you for joining me. an awful day for you and everyone who loves the boston marathon. what is your reaction to what's happened?

>> it is a terrible day for the city of boston, for the commonwealth of massachusetts, for our country, and for the sport of running globally. it's just a terrible blow. and it's really just we're all in a situation where the tragedy, the loss of life that has already been report ed a shock that has permeated all parts of our chun te. what we do know at this moment, piers, is we have heard lots of different statistics about how many injuries. here is what we do know. that 23,326 people officially started the race this morning. at 17,584 crossed the finish line. 4,496 made it to the 40

kilometer mark but are unaccounted for because they were held up from coming into the square area and to properly cross the finish line. another 1,246 never made it to the 40 kilometer mark. so the good news is that 17,584 got across the finish line safe ly that the baa and boston police did a fantastic job. i worked with the elite athlete program in the past. they have tremendous plans in place for something like this and the way that the race was suspended so quickly and how they so quickly kept people from coming down the street where they could be at risk or danger was absolutely fantastic and i think the bos to be athletic association deserve tremendous credit for how they handled this when it occurred.

>> to me, the guy that sums up was a man earlier, 78 years old. he has run 45 marathons and blown off of his feet. he just got back up and finished the race. what did you make of that, fred? i feel terrible for the people who have been injured in this senseless attack. but i also feel for the thousands of people who trained for months who raised money for charities.

and all of a sudden they can't get to the finish line or that they are experiencing crossing the finish line is marred by this terrible tragedy. think about it. for the one from kenya, or denissa from ethiopia, tomorrow would have been the day that they would have been harolded in our newspapers. tomorrow it will be about this local tragedy. and those two athletes have been robbed as well of their moment in history by this terrible thing. >> finally, will there be a boston marathon next year? >> the boston marathon has endured two world wars and many other things. i remember working with the elite athlete program after september 11 and the different things that were put in place to deal with that.